Navigating Conversations About Body Image With Your Teen

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Does your teen seem overly concerned about how they look? Do they seem to overeat or restrict their food intake without worrying about the consequences? This interview with Dr. Charlotte Markey will help. Dr. Markey is a professor of psychology and chair of the Health Sciences Department at Rutgers University, and a research scientist who has published over 100 scholarly articles and chapters about mental health issues. She has been conducting research on eating behavior and body image for over 25 years. She is the author of The Body Image Book for Girls, Being You: The Body Image Book for Boys, and most recently, Adultish: The Body Image Book for Life.

In this episode, we cover:

• What do you include when you speak of body image?
• I think of it now more about weight, but wouldn’t it include having straight teeth, fewer pimples, and a cute haircut?
• Have young people always struggled with body image, or is this something new to our modern times?
• When should parents begin to worry that a teen’s concern over body image is becoming too much?
• My 17-year-old is beginning to gain quite a bit of weight, and her doctor is concerned. She doesn’t seem to be worried about it, but I am worried that she is establishing bad habits. We eat “normal,” relatively healthy food at home and have some “treats,” but not a huge amount, so she’s not gaining weight from what she is eating at home. She is driving now and stops frequently to eat fast food and then doesn’t eat much of what we serve for our meals. She also buys a lot of chips, sodas, and cookies and eats them in her room all evening. This is beginning to feel like disordered eating to me. 
• Parents worry that if they say anything, they are drawing attention and casting too much emphasis on weight.
• I have a 16-year-old girl who is very aware of her weight. I think some degree of that is normal, but I see that she is adding more exercise to her routine even though she has always been active in sports. I also see that she is eating less and less at our meals, but then she eats an entire pint of ice cream. She loves clothes and is very pleased when she drops a size. Should I be worried?
• What is intuitive eating?
• Are the body image issues for boys different than for girls?
• What teens are at the greatest risk of developing an eating disorder?
• Are youth who have experienced trauma or food insecurity at greater risk?
• Are teens with ADHD at greater risk for eating disorders, especially overeating? 
• What protective factors should we add to our kids' lives when we see them struggling?
• Where do you go first for help when your teen is in trouble?
• The impact of GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Wegovy on body image of teens.
• What are the impacts of social media and mainstream media on body image

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